Let the Vacation Begin

Now that the parties are over and the house is clean and the laundry done and the bags packed I can finally relax. We are on our last leg of the long flight to VA. (Yes I am typing this in the air). We started at 730 this morning with a 3 hour drive to Portland. We opted to fly out of PDX b/c with 3 tickets that was a $600 savings. (Ryan's work paid for his b/c he will be attending a conference in Williamsburg). We arrived on time despite the 30 car and 20 mile long funeral procession we got stuck behind. The airport was empty. We walked right up to the ticket counter and security. The plane was only half full so we had plenty of space to spread out. The kids were really good. Max was a little fussy for a while b/c he was so tired and refused to fall asleep. By the end of the 4 hours we were ready to get off the plane. We had to circle for an extra 20 min. b/c Chicago was too busy for us to land. We got some dinner at the airport and got back on a plane for our last 1.5 hour stretch to Dulles. Again the airplane is less than half full so we have 2 full rows to ourselves. Max finally fell asleep and the kids are watching a movie so I have time to catch up on my blog. Note to anyone travelling with small children: SWA does not allow families with small children to pre-board. Lucky for us the flights were empty but this could be a real problem. Also, the end of October beginning of November is a great time to travel. Things are pretty slow on the airlines right now before the busy season. I couldn't imagine travelling with my kids during the Holiday rush.

3 Parties 3 Days

Wow! What a week! Somehow I Ryan and I ended up in charge of 3 parties all in the same weekend. Friday, was the ward Halloween Carnival and trunk or treat. I had volunteered to be in charge way back at the end of August. It was a great success. We had 11 booths including face painting, a cupcake walk, and a photo shoot. The kids had a great time. Then Saturday was the Annual Stake High Priest dinner and activity which Ryan was in charge of. We did a Jeopardy game with fun questions. It took us over 3 hours Saturday morning to set up. We had 22 tables. We came up with some awesome pumpkin centerpieces. It looked great. Ryan made a great Alex Trebec and even programmed the whole Jepordy game from scratch. Lots of compliments and everyone had a good time. Sunday night we had an open house for a family that got sealed in the temple. Traci coordinated the whole thing so I didn't have much to stress about. I just had to clean my house and make some food. A lot of people came to congratulate the Candlands and I think it turned out really well. It was a really fun weekend and I am so glad everything went smoothly.

The Big 3-0 !

Well its official I have left my 20s behind. I can actually say I am happy to be 30. Life just gets better every year and I am excited for what this decade will bring. My friends came though in a big way. They all dressed in black and took me out to dinner. We ate at Staccatos in downtown Bend. I got a delicious corn bisque with crab in it and cheese raviolis in a butternut squash sauce. It was really fun to sit and talk with friends without any kids interrupting. They also got me some great gifts too. A Halloween Krinkle Tree with ornaments (which was perfect b/c I had just got a few krinkle ornaments a couple days prior :). I also got a very cool glass blown pumpkin, Halloween frame & throw, chocolates, a gift card to Macy's, a fun Roxy purse, and a candle soap making kit. Thanks Everyone! You guys are the best.

We weren't able to really celebrate as a family b/c now Caden is really sick. So hopefully in D.C. we can celebrate big time my 30th and Marty's 50th (oh, and Ryans 34th). I am also planning on doing some bday shopping in D.C. :) I will have 3 malls to choose from and several hundred stores! Ahhhhh......

Pumpkin Cookies

My friend Linz sent me a Halloween Apron for my birthday. I put it on and got to work making pumpkin cookies. Seriously, these are the best Pumpkin Cookies I have ever made. Its a Halloween Miracle! Or a Halloween Apron miracle! 3 other things contributed to making these cookies perfect: 1. My Kitchen Aid mixer, I have only had this for 2 years now but have no idea how I ever lived without it. 2. The convection oven, I love it. It cuts baking time in half b/c you can do multiple sheets at a time and everything comes out perfectly cooked. There is no way I can go back to baking cookies in a conventional oven. 3. A new, all natural,unbleached flour I used for the first time. When I opened the bag I could SMELL the freshness. I could totally see and taste a difference in these cookies. The dough was elastic and perfect. Can't wait to use this flour with cinnamon rolls and pizza dough.
I will post the recipe but there are a couple rules that go with the Pumpkin Cookies.
1. These cookies are ONLY to be made September - November.
2. Never Ever use milk chocolate chips in place of the semi-sweet.
3. No kidding and no Exceptions!!!

Now if you agree to follow the above rules you can try the recipe.

Pumpkin Cookies

3 c. sugar
1 c. shortening
3 eggs, beaten
29 oz. can Libby's pumpkin
4 tbls baking powder
3 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
6 c. flour
1 pkg. chocolate chips

Combine sugar, shortening and eggs. Add next 5 ingredients. Mix well. Add flour 2 cups at a time. Dough will be thick. Stir in chocolate chips. Grease cookie sheet. Drop by rounded spoonful. Bake 350 for 15 min. Or 325 for 13 min. if using a convection oven :)

First Snow

We woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning. The kids were excited and went out to play right after breakfast.



Max has been sick all week. He has the flu. I took him to the doctor and there is nothing I can do but keep in upright and suction his nose. I have also been running the humidifier and putting him in a steamy shower with us. He has been having difficulty sleeping and drinking a bottle. Today he couldn't keep anything down and refused to eat solids. He has been sleeping soundly for the past couple hours though so hopefully we are over the worst of if and he will start feeling better. I found this picture of Maxwell on my camera from a couple of weeks ago. So cute! I want my happy baby back. No more sick.

Pumpkin Patch

Ellie's Preschool took a fieldtrip to the Central Oregon Pumpkin Patch. I was able to bring Caden along. The pumpkin patch is awesome. They have so much to do there. A petting zoo, zoo train, corn maze, pumpkin launcher, slide, giant pirate ship, stores and food vendors. It is located at the base of Smith Rock and is absolutely gorgeous. Check it out www.pumpkinco.org .

Youth Trip

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go with the Youth on an overnight temple trip. We left friday morning and drove up to Portland. After the temple we headed down to the Coast for the night. We had a bonfire on the beach. The kids had a lot of fun. On Saturday we visited tidepools, hiked up to a lighthouse and played on the beach. The weather was awesome and the skies were clear. It was so beautiful.

Ellie got the flu the day before we left. She was so sick and so miserable. She even had to miss a friends birthday party. She is doing a lot better but still has a bad cough. I just hope the rest of us can stay healthy.

My sister announced her engagement. She is going to be getting married to Nathan next Fall. I am excited to meet him. Hopefully they can come out for the holidays. Congratulations Katie!

My great grandmother passed away last week and her funeral was on Monday. She was 89 years old. After reading her obituary and other articles about her life I realize just how little I know of my relatives. I am curious to learn more especially from my Dad's side of the family. I have a picture somewhere of her with my daughter and all of the generations in between. That is 5 generations. Wow.

Fall Festival

Bend is known for its many community activities and festivals. We have one every season and many events in between. This weekend was the Fall Festival. It was a perfect Fall day, cool and blustery. We have noticed over the years that the festivals are getting more and more kid friendly (as is all of Bend). They had one whole street just for kids with face painting, hay maze, pony rides, bouncy castles, pumpking painting contest and many more activities. Here is a little slide show from the day.

Rants and Raves

I have ordered many things online from companies such as Amazon, Target, B&N, and Oriental Trading. They always offer free standard shipping if you order X amount of dollars. Then when you are checking out it says that your order won't arrive until 2-3 weeks with standard shipping but you can upgrade your shipping for a fee. I wonder if people actually give in to their ploys and pay for shipping b/c they don't want to wait for the "free standard shipping". Every time I have selected the standard shipping option they have shipped my item within 2 days and I usually have it within a week. This would be the same as if I have selected and paid for priority shipping. So please, if you order online, look for free shipping and USE it. The company isn't really going to hold your package for 2-3 weeks.

Many of you have read and commented on my post 30 long months. In my quest for clothes my friend recommended a little place downtown called santee alley. I stopped by there this weekend and found a "HOT" (Ryans words, not mine) pair of jeans, a top and a sweater. I was very excited to actually have a pair of jeans that fit me but when I got home and put them on I realized the zipper does not stay up!!! Now I have to find time to take the jeans back and I think that was the last pair in my size :(. And this is NOT a place where you can take 3 little kids. aarrgghhh.

I got my hair cut and colored this past week and I love it. This was her last chance b/c I wasn't happy with the last cut or color. But she pulled through and did a good job. However, it took her 3 hours!! She has an assistant now which means she is double booking people. I sat there for probably 30 min. total while she was working on the other cut and color. This really annoyed me. Again, who has time to spend 3 hours in the salon?

Tagged

I was catching up on all my favorite posts when I saw that I had been tagged. So here it goes.

What I was doing 10 years ago... Living in cute little townhouse in Provo, attending BYU, trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do.

What I was doing 5 years ago... Living in Northern VA, commuting into D.C., working 10+ hour days at the Madera Hotel as the reservations manager & conference services coordinator.

What I was doing 1 year ago... Just moved to Utah for our brief 6 month stay. 5 months pregnant with Maxwell. Wondering if we had made the right decision in moving and leaving the hotel industry for the opportunity to make a film.

What I was doing yesterday... Watching conference, playing at the Fall Festival and stressing about my cinnamon rolls that I didn't have enough ingredients for.

5 places I'd rather be... at the spa, in bed asleep, the Oregon Coast, on vacation anywhere, Disney World

5 snacks/treats I love... Chocolate, brownies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, thin mints, Death by Chocolate Cake

What I would do with 100 million dollars... Buy an island, a company, a house, a plane, and anything else I wanted. I would give some away to family and charity and invest some.

5 Favorite TV shows... Lost (starts Feb '08), the Office, Amazing Race (Feb '08), Project Runway (Premiers Nov. 14th), Ugly Betty


5 people to tag...Wayne T., Korbie T., Alex C., Kendra F., Katie F. (this means that you have to answer these questions on your own blog.) :)